Current generation consoles have undergone price adjustments in several regions. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X increased their costs some time ago and there are rumors of possible hardware revisions for both brands. As a result, gamers are wondering if the current systems will drop in price in the future.
Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, decided to talk about the topic during a recent interview. He shared some news that will not excite gamers, as he pointed out that it is unlikely that Xbox Series X|S will officially drop in price at some point.
Spencer rules out price cut on Xbox Series X|S
Speaking to Eurogamer, Spencer stressed that the industry has changed over the years and that it is not currently feasible to reduce hardware prices as easily as it used to be. Usually, production costs used to decrease and generate a margin for companies to reduce the cost of their consoles, but this is no longer the case.
The executive stated that current production costs are not coming down, therefore, there are no plans to lower the price of Xbox Series X|S in either the short or long term. Spencer explained that since the planning of the generation they thought about this, that's why they offer a system like Xbox Series S, which is cheaper and accessible to more pockets than Xbox Series X.
“The prices aren’t coming down. We see it now, and that’s why we did Xbox Series S (...) We wanted to make sure we had a sub-$300 console because we want to grow, and we think an entry level price point for many new families or players coming into the market is going to be important,” Spencer said.
He added that price is a determining factor for the future of the brand. Despite this, they cannot reduce production costs because it is difficult to get certain components at a more affordable price. For this reason, he believes that prices will remain stable throughout the generation.
"For us, thinking about where our hardware is going and reaching more customers, price point is important. But you’re not going to be able to start with a console that’s $500 thinking it’s gonna get to 200 bucks. That won’t happen. Because the core components that you use (...) you can’t buy them anymore as a hardware maker because nobody’s making that kind of RAM or other components," he added.
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